Reflection at the end of the year 2013

Coincidentally, with the closing of 2013, three things ended.

First, is the closing of the year 2013. Like always, it has been a wonderful year. In fact, it is better than the year before. I count my blessing on that.

New acquaintances, new connections, new things to look out for in life. Most of it involved life adjustments - or work adjustments.

It's hard to spell out success stories. Success has a different meaning in different people.

In an academic world, being able to publish in high impact journal is one. For others, landing a huge research grant is also considered a success. For some, one grant is not enough. The more grants under your belt, the higher the status you attained, the more important you are among the research fraternity in the faculty.

The more grant the person bagged, the bigger the ego is. Psychologically, it helped with the confidence. But, having too many to juggle at one time - it seems a bit daunting. Not to mention distractions it may create to throw you off from your focus.

Completing a manuscript for publication - still brings a sense of satisfaction for most. Though it is the only paper for the entire year - and its publication is still pending for approval.

Success has different measures for different people. Nevertheless, you should not belittle others no matter how small their success measure is compared to yours.

The new year opens a new book for me to write on.

The end of a career for a teacher

How often do we feel when a teacher who had taught us before retires? Not often. Many teachers come and go, but we are not bothered with that. It’s a life cycle, we say. And it is a norm for people to move from one place to the other.

Not this teacher of mine. He will still be a teacher to me though I have been elevated as a colleague. He is an Orthopaedic surgeon, a professor. His sudden email informing of his retiring after serving 20 years in the faculty came as a sudden shock.

Let me tell you why he deserved to be reminisced.

Clinical teachers are usually dogs. They bark at any moves that is not in tandem with their teaching of clinical physical examination. They will, without hesitation, use the bell of the stethoscope like a hammer on the mindless palpation of an abdomen.

Prof PKL is not like that. Though he might be old school, his attitude is not. He is the scaffold that helps students to right what is wrong. He is what facilitation really means. He gets the students to think.

Most importantly, he inspires students. Several of them are now his orthopaedic apprentice.

It is usual for students to get playful at times. It may be irritating to the teachers involved. But handling them should not be rough. Otherwise, the same attitude will be returned to you. Play along with them, slowly and gently coaxing them to get into the real business. This needs patience.

Prof PKL is a patient man. Though we were wrong, he never let out hurtful words, in his anger, to us. He just kept quiet. His ears were red. And we know what that means. We could expect what is next. Surprisingly, out prediction was wrong. In his repose self, he did not get mad. He spoke when everyone was ready. When he spoke, it was civil, with authority and just. No parang wielding moment.

Well, he will remain in my memory. A living example of how a teaching doctor should carry himself.

The end of a loving wife and mother

This is another shocking news for a colleague - and all of us known to him. His wife has passed away. I shall not focus on the disease here.

From what I have gathered, it was quite a sudden demise for him. For the past two weeks, the family have been battling the disease and thinking of ways to treat it. The diagnosis came as a sudden. Prognosis was quite poor. The surgeon in charge whispered to him that she might not make it out of the operating theatre.

Worth it or not, it is still an attempt. She consented.

I imagined myself in his shoes. It’s unbearable. Yet, he was so calm and composed. His children were calm too. They seemed to have accepted it.

In fact, he has kept it a secret from the faculty - only to confide it with certain people. Imagine his mind worrying of his wife at home, and to carry on teaching the students.

Reflection point

The point for reflection is, as we are nearing the end of the year 2013, we must cherish whatever we have right here and right now. At any point in the future, we all will part.

So, take off your eyes from the FB page - if it leaves you fuming mad after seeing the statuses.

Stop paying attention to the WhatsApp messages on your phone.

Play with your children.

Kiss the hands of your parents.

Go for a movie with the family.

If your shift has ended, end it right there and then. Let someone take over it. Your shift now is with the family waiting at home.

May you have a wonderful year ahead. Happy new year!

Kelantan revisited

It has been two years since I left Kelantan. To say the least, it has been a memorable 4 and half year in Kota Bharu and Kubang Kerian area.

We had been contemplating and finding reasons to go back to Kelantan. Just visiting the famed Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah does not justify as our cause. To get our keropok lekor and keropok segera stocks does not qualify too. Finally, we gave ourselves the reasons to go when we were invited to attend a wedding of an extended family member in Tanah Merah. We felt a sense of relief.

We stayed in Perdana Hotel, which was prebooked online. Like a child with his childhood friends, Perdana Hotel has grown together with Kota Bharu. The hotel has seen the ups and downs of the town - being in the downs for several years - before undergoing renovation in the last few years to emerge as a beautiful butterfly. Without hesitating, my next stay in KB would be Perdana Hotel. 

Kota Bharu is similar. The town is not the same as the Kota Bharu that I know of in 2007. Obviously, the new Kota Bharu is the real "New Town". Rubbish and overfilled bins are not too many to be seen any more in the main town. I used to remember rubbish overflowing the bins greeting me in the evenings as I was returning to my home in Panji. Not anymore. The bins are still there, but it was not overflowing. The roads were resurfaced. Muddy shoulder of the roads that collects the monsoon rains is a thing of the past.

The completed flyover that connects Kota Bharu and Pasir Mas is ready. The traffic jams caused by the construction is gone. Traffic is smooth in front of KB Mall, the road to Wakaf Che Yeh and into Tesco KB.

Though my anxiety has disappeared with the disappearance of the gridlock that usually strangles the Sultan Yahya Petra road, there are still some pockets of brake-slamming-points in the town itself. This may be overwhelming for the first time drivers in Kelantan, enough to raise a point or two in the blood pressure gauge. But, for locals and localised outsiders, it is normal. You can expect a motorist to stop unexpectedly at the shoulder of a straight road - usually at famous eating points and banks - just be aware of this and slowly signal your way out to get to your destinations. Please do as the Kelantanese do - do not honk! If you honk, it is a tell-tale sign that you are not a local. Either way, folks are just as quaint as they are - forgiving you as the unknowing outsider or forgiving you as it is not your fault to stop suddenly at the roadside looking for food or cashing out some pitih.

Food - among other things - is what Kelantan is rich for. For me, the  Tom Yam here is among the best in Malaysia. I am not familiar with Kedah, but I am sure that the Tom Yams of Kedah is among the best in the region too. We owe this to the Siamese ties established in the northern states of West Malaysia with the neighbouring south Thailand. The Tom Yams in Sri Chieng Mai and Four Seasons restaurant is still a hot item and will remain to be.

Wakaf Che Yeh too has seen changes. If you have time to shop for bargain priced contemporary Batik designs, here is the place to be. The best part is, the market is all surfaced with tarmac, making walking a brisk and pushing the baby's stroller effortless. Surely, rainy season is not a hindrance. If you still prefer the modern air conditioned building, Bazar Buluh Kubu is a better choice. But, most of the items here are "executively" priced. Otherwise, the preferred option for most people is the Pasar Siti Khadijah, which is just next to the Bazar Buluh Kubu.

Among the food that I would look for in Kelantan is the Keropok Lekor and Sata. I would not think of another place to look for them except in Pasir Puteh - Besut border (Kelantan - Terengganu border). You know that you are in the "keropok lekor zone" when you keep seeing the "Keropok lekor" signs on buildings along the stretch of roads. Again, it would be tormenting for first timers to pick and choose the keropok lekor stall to stop at. My pick - the stall right at the border of Pasir Putih - Besut. Choose the one that looks like a modern looking store with racks of fish products. The lekor processing area, where the women folk tirelessly rolls the fish paste  to make keropok lekor is visible at the side of the building. The lekor here taste fresh with more fish than flour and is very soft.

Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to bring the lekor home without risking it to spoil in room temperature. Vacuum packed keropok lekor may be found in one of the many stalls. I know for sure, in Kuala Terengganu, you can request for your keropok lekor to be vacuumed packed.

For sata, I would prefer the wooden hut immediately before the bridge at Kuala Besut, if you are coming from the Kelantan side. You can see heaps of skewered Sata on the grill, ready to be barbequed. This great local finger food normally cost One Ringgit for three pieces.

Obviously, Kota Bharu and Kelantan has seen changes over the years. For me it is one of the places that will entice you to come repeatedly to rediscover with a different perspective.  

On Sydney

We just returned from Sydney. It was a short yet a nice visit. If Malaysia is truly Asia, then I would think that Sydney is truly Australia.

 

Sydney is not the capital of Australia. Canberra is. However, Sydney is the biggest city in Australia.

 

To get into Australia, you would need a visa to enter. Please refer to the Australian Immigration website to check for any restrictions that may apply. For a Malaysian, they are two routes for visa application. You can either apply for the e-visa that cost only AUD20 or pay AUD 120 for the conventional visa application. The latter is much more detailed and you will spend more time filling it. The process is simple and user friendly. The system will respond by emailing you the approval letter once you have cleared immigration. That easy.

 

The cheapest route to Australia from Malaysia is still by using the AirAsia. A direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney is available. The flight took about 8 hours. The time difference between KL and Sydney is about 3 hours.

 

We stayed in Devere hotel. It was a good location, very near the Kings Cross train station and the bus stops right at the hotel. Taxis are aplenty. For those that partake revelry, Kings Cross is probably the place to be. There are plenty of bars in the vicinity. Strip bars and adult shops are also there. I was concerned with the location of the hotel at first when the first taxi driver who took us from the airport to the hotel advised us not return home too late at night, especially during the weekend. Passing Kings Cross might not be safe as the place get a bit rowdy and feral with people fuelled with alcohol. In such instances, using common sense is the ultimate weapon to avoid oneself from getting into trouble.

 

Generally Australians are very nice and a friendly lot of people. They have this civil pride which I think is exemplary. They care for their environment. They are aware of their surroundings. They help as they need to, regardless of skin colour and creed. They are truly civic minded. I am quite ashamed to say that Malaysians are not as friendly and as helpful as the Australians.

 

In Malaysia, people honk in anger when you cross the zebra crossings. Whereas in Sydney, the pedestrian crossing the zebra crossing is given the priority.

 

In Malaysia, rubbish is left after the street vendor ends their day business. In Australia, the vendors maintains their surroundings, keeping the place clean as usual after ending their day.

 

In addition to that, I remembered seeing a man picking up litters on the road and put it in the rubbish bin. That happened at Queen Victoria Building. In Malaysia, that is seldom the case. I do still see a higher level of civic mindedness in Kuching though. Most of the time, Malaysians feel ashamed , or rather shy to pick up litters from the road and place them in the bin. The usual comments I frequently hear are, "It's the job of the rubbish collector or the road sweeper" or "We pay our taxes to the government, so the road sweepers are the ones paid to collect rubbish". That is the kind of mentality affecting the society now.

 

Oddly enough, I have seen Malaysians who have returned from developed countries brimming with proudness that they had lived "overseas" and telling everybody how clean it is in those countries, but at the same time, littering unscrupulously on the streets. How shameful! It seems like those years in the developed countries did not developed them well enough.

 

In Malaysia, thank you is only offered as they are told to, usually in hotels. But in Australia, people appreciates others more. I remembered when the passengers at the end of bus yelling "Thank you" to the bus driver at the end of our destination - Bondi Beach. Everyone appreciates the bus driver. May be that’s the reason why most bus drivers in Malaysia are rude and in the hurry at all times, critically when you are in the midst of disembarking the bus. They are an unappreciated lot. If only Malaysians can appreciate this part.

 

Word of thanks is offered almost at all times, as long as there is a human interaction that is fit for appreciation.

 

When asked for help for direction, I still remembered the elderly gentleman, in his suit, walked us to the road that leads us straight to our destination. He was patient in trying to explain the direction to us. We felt sorry for taking some of his time.

 

Well, there are many places of interest in Sydney and its surrounding. Getting around is pretty easy with the extensive transportation coverage. If you plan to stay there for a week, purchase the MyMulti2 ticket, which is enough to get you around places of interest. It is convenient that way. Please check out the link here.

 

The stations (bus and trains) can be downloaded in the PDF version. If you wish, you can also download the app "TripGo" on your smart devices that tells you real time on your current location and gives you an idea on how to get from point A to point B, by using public transport.

 

Some of the places that you should not miss are Darling Harbour and its vicinity, Sydney Harbour and its vicinity, Blue Mountains and the nearby beaches (Bondi and Bronte Beach). Be sure to see a Kangaroo or a Koala bear in any of the wildlife parks around - Wildlife enclosure at Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo and Featherdale Wildlife park. It is a missed opportunity if you had not the chance to see animals unique to the Australasian Continent such as the wallabies, the platipus, wombats, emu and the cassowary.

 

Please note that some of the tickets are cheaper when purchased online.

 

Not to worry much though, once in Sydney, you can easily find a map that list out all places that you should visit. One brochure that I find useful was the "Sydney by foot" from the hotel. It gets you to all the "must see" places on foot.

 

For the shopaholics (and Malaysian), I would suggest that you go to The DFO Homebush and Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre in Drummoyne. I could not figure out why, or if the things here are cheaper, but Malaysians seems to love these two outlets. Most probably, Malaysians find it convenient to have household items and "branded" clothe wear under one roof. We were lucky that we were in the  Christmas holiday season. There was a sale of household items at the basement of the beautiful Queen Victoria building. Another important tip, visit a country during the festive seasons to get a bargain. 

It was memorable given the limited time and unintended happenings - little one was down with fever on the 4th day of visit. I would consider to come back again some other time to make up what was missed in this inaugural visit.

Teaching roles

A lot of changes have occurred in the methodology of teaching and learning. Gone are the days of teacher faces students style of teaching. Just as one professor mentioned, teachers are not the teachers that we use to know before, but their roles have changed to become facilitators.

Students are responsible for their own learning. Teachers facilitate and guide them to the correct resources to make sure that they stay on track. That does not mean that the students will have no room for creativity at all. In that case, the teacher will have to keep them on track and  at the same time un-prohibit their creativity.

Everywhere, people are talking about student centered learning. When I was a student, a friend mentioned that it is only a smoke screen to relieve the teaching job off teachers. It is just terms and nothing more. Not giving it much thought, I believed it too.

After one year of teaching, it is just sad to see students still cannot grasp simple concepts after drilling with them in class. I began to ask myself, "Is there something wrong in the way I teach?" Obviously, I lacked the skills of teaching. The concept of lecturing is only that - lecturing. One enters a lecture hall, whip out the slides and start to talk and talk till the end of the slides - without getting any feedback if the lecture was understood by the students.

Asian students, being Asians, are not that vocal in voicing out the clutters in their mind. So, that clutter remained as clutters - believing that by doing a self study and research - the clutters would be untangled. Quite a herculean task to do, especially when English is not their mother tongue. Why not just ask the lecturer - and get the jigsaw pieces in the correct space?

After equipping myself with the basics of paedagogy, yes, there are many ways to make my teaching as interesting as possible. First of all, teaching should not be one way. It should be interactive and experiential at the same time. It should include lots of reflective learning, where students are allowed to think and apply the basic tools out of the box.

Asian students, given the chance to perform, and to warm up to it, will tend to perform, sometimes, their acts surprise us. The diligent ones remained diligent, A is for an A. There are no other ways to explain it. The creative ones would add more details to it, "Air" sounds like the letter A, and the word Air begins with an A.

These are the qualities that educators would like students to develop.

Could it be due to the education system where the students are so used to? It has always been a one way affair between the teachers in class and their students. There were not much chance of pondering on the issues. The theories are taught, and immediately, exercises came. Practice makes perfect they say - that I agree wholly. But the rigidity of the practices may actually impede the chance to explore, especially those creative minds. As an example, engineering students may be given exercises to practice after every lecture or tutorial. They will be able to answer the same question a week later. Same values, same numerical facts and denominators. In the final exam, the same question structure  is presented, very similar to the test that was given in the exercises. The only thing that changed this time, is the figures. In most instances, reporting experiences from other colleagues, half of the number of students, who have done well in the exercises earlier, fail at answering the questions.

Could it be that the students were actually memorizing rather than understanding the concepts behind the application during the exercises? Has the stance, practice makes perfect that we believed so much in backfired on us?

In that case, the students have not achieved a meaningful learning yet. That has to be the biggest challenge for all teachers. To achieve a meaningful learning experience, students will have to be responsible for the acquisition of knowledge. To be responsible means to care for and to be concerned with the right amount of information needed to achieve the objectives of the topic. Difficulty in understanding a concept will create anxiety in students, forcing them to come forward to look for their facilitators. They are being responsible. Students who could not be bothered with their learning will just give up and resist initiating to search. But, they cannot be blamed totally for it. Their environment may not cater for them.

As the world that has evolved, teaching too. Creativity that creates creativity - is good. But when an idled mind creates creativity - its not good.

Office discipline and politics

How we react depends on the environment that we constantly live in. If the environment emits negative aura, our reactions will be negative as well.

What is negative reaction? It means a lot. In a gist, we are full of hatred, pessimistic, unforgiving, full of anger and easily believing old grandmother's tale. in Malay, the tahyul mahyul.

It is always easy to blame others and not ourselves first. Why don't we worry correcting ourselves first before correcting others? The question is, who are we to correct others for their actions? If everyone correct themselves first, the world will need no blaming.

For the negative aspects people have, ignore it. Do not magnify or highlight it to them. It will subconsciously be the focus in that person's mind. Explore the positive behavior of people - if he comes early to work, if he has done a good report, if he took the effort to clean the office - praise them and praise the Lord. Who knows, we might be the first person ever to realize his positive attributes. He will beam with happiness and eager to show more. In the end, the negative traits will dissipate.

We are the magnet of negative surroundings. 

Imbue the positive energy in our heart first, then only we can exude the positive energy onto others. Positivity is contagious. So is happiness and even a simple smile.

I will smile starting today. It is a gift that I can really afford.

Leaders, set an example. It will never be easy to correct people head on. Humans are reactive in nature. By default, the reactions are negative. The solution is, be responsive to the needs of the surroundings. Slowly, the we will reap from the positive changes. These goes to all of us, as all of us are leaders.

For this, I will focus only in the positive. Speak positively and think positively. Do not speak ill of others. Everybody is good. We are human, mistakes are inevitable. The only thing, we will constantly correct them and improve our internal software. How do you think iphone 5 was made, without iphone 3? It was through constant review of the product itself.

We are the product of ourselves. Every thought process, from the input that we received upto the reaction to our surrounding are the processes involved in the packaging of that product. Like consumers, people will judge the product and form thoughts about the product. Imagine if the product is thought to be cheap although it may be worthless.

Knowledge should be shared

Knowledgeable people are humble people. The more they read and try to understand what is being read, they know that the world is too big for them, and how small there are. There are limitations to the human mind, but we not should limit ourselves from constantly asking and seeking for knowledge. In other words, we should not stop questionning in order to understand the world.

Somehow or another, the enlightened people would realized that behind all these science, is a power than runs it all. This power is so powerful that volcanoes erupt when the time comes, and human dies after the heart stops beating. How fragile we are. Yet, despite all this, some human choose to be ignorant and side with their egoistic view of life. They have decided that knowledge is not for sharing, but only for the exclusive few.

Does it hurt at all to share knowledge? Or, if the knowledge is shared, will it cause the money in the banks to deplete, that we can't afford to sustain ourselves? Do some people consider the act of sharing knowledge is a subtle form of stealing? Or, sharing is actually taking away some of the knowledge from the recluse and creases of the brain? Making one dumber by the day?

Think again, to whom do we owe our brain?

Sharing is caring. It is very true. Knowledge shared is a knowledge gain. It consolidates the long term memory. That is how great academic institution was built. It was built with love. The love of knowledge. Love invoke passion. Passion in the business of knowledge, never bankrupts. The person may die, but the work will continue, worked out by similarly passionate person.

Are you sure that you want recognition? Recognition in the form of titles are for humans only. When you are gone, the names and the title may be forgotten. But not the work that has inspired others. Yes, of course we can call you Prof, Datuk, Tan Sri, all that fancy your wits. But that is as far as it goes. Surely, happiness is only at the surface. But inside, only the Powerful One knows. To be perfectly happy, we have to be happy inside out and not vice versa.

I will be happy to share. Share and be happy. Give and never expect to take. For the sharing of knowledge is the most beneficial gift of all.